Euterpe
by Demon's Requiem
Summary: Sometimes a song can change everything - all they have to do is look for the future and leave their broken past behind. SasuNaru, birthday!fic for Ennalight.


**A/N: **HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENNA :DDDDDD

I really hope you enjoy this ^^ Sorry if the prompts you gave me got a little mixed up... (They were, in a nutshell: Naruto cleans the Uchiha compound and Sasuke sings a song. Sort of. And with fluff. But I ... kind of forgot the fluff part... as you'll see...) As for anyone else who happens to read this, love you for it!

_Things to know:_ Euterpe is a song from Guilty Crown (Enna's suggestion :P). It comes into play at a specific part of this fic, so ... it would probably be helpful if you either listened to it now so you have the tune stuck in your head or you listen to it when the part comes. Because trust me, you'll know when the song is supposed to be playing. A 'link': www. youtube watch?v=ktVgKmuMZsc . Take out the spaces and add in a dot com (since it keeps taking it out when I put it in) as well as a '/'. If it doesn't work, typing in "guilty crown euterpe male version" will also bring up similar songs. The male version is necessary :)

On the other hand, you don't have to look up the song if you don't want to. It just adds to the mood of the fic.

Okay, enough babbling! I'll let you read. xD

* * *

Euterpe

* * *

_In the summer, the rain passed  
__And the blue reflected.  
__All alone now  
__In front of me,  
__You trembled  
__Without saying a thing._

_What do you think  
__When your friends wilt around you?  
__With those leaves that do not carry words  
__How do you convey your love?_

~_Euterpe,_ by EGOIST (Supercell & Chelly)~

* * *

It all started when Sasuke showed up at Naruto's apartment one sunlit afternoon.

"Don't bother with it," was all he said as soon as Naruto opened the door.

"What are you talking about?" Confused, Naruto allowed himself to be pushed aside as Sasuke stepped into his apartment.

"My birthday. Give it up."

Naruto whirled around. "Who told you about that? Was it Kakashi? He can never keep his mouth shut anyway—"

"I'm not _stupid_, Naruto. I have ears. And it really isn't all that difficult overhearing you and Sakura whisper about surprise parties when you're only three feet behind me." Sasuke's voice teetered on the thin edge between sarcasm and condescending.

Naruto's mouth opened and shut. "Er—well—"

"Besides, I'm leaving on a mission." Sasuke folded his arms and leaned against the kitchen table, looking irritatingly calm. His black eyes were as impassive as ever, and it was then that Naruto noticed the ninja gear Sasuke was wearing and the traveling pack placed snug over his shoulders. "Tonight."

"And when do you get back?" Naruto snapped, finally remembering to slam his door shut.

"Supposedly a week from now, if things go well."

"That's the day after your birthday!" He threw his hands into the air, feeling the overwhelming urge to punch Sasuke wash over him (it happened a lot, unfortunately). "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Sasuke's silence answered it all. "You're such an asshole, you know that? Why do you hate it when people do stuff for you, anyway? Last year you made some crappy excuse and the year before that too. Does this have something to do with your family? I thought that was in the past now."

Instantly, just as those last words came out of Naruto's mouth, he knew he'd said something wrong. Rule number one around Sasuke: Never bring up anything regarding his family, and particularly his brother. Even if Sasuke was back now—with them, with _him_—for good, wounds were still raw. Still healing.

Sasuke's eyes turned stormy, and a tingle of _something _shot into Naruto's stomach. That was happening a lot recently, but just as he always had, he ignored it. Sasuke's voice was harsh and almost angry. "My family has nothing to do with you. They never did, and they never will. If I don't want anything for my birthday, then it's my business and my reasons. Stop meddling."

Somehow, the words just throw themselves out of Naruto's mouth like they want to commit suicide, much to his horror. "Maybe you just need to let those ghosts go. Let your family rest in peace. Aren't we your family now, Sasuke? Team Seven? Let's build a new future, a new start—"

There was a loud thump and pain blossomed against the back of Naruto's head as he suddenly found himself trapped between the wall and Sasuke's body. His hand was fisted in Naruto's shirt, and his eyes were Sharingan-less but still terrifyingly empty.

"You aren't my family, Naruto. And you need to get it through that thick skull of yours that _you never will be._"

Without another word, Sasuke disappeared in a flash of smoke. Naruto stayed pressed against the wall for a moment, feeling the lingering heat slowly dissipate (_but the strange tingle did not_) and an ache blossom in his heart. Then he slowly slid down and dropped his head into his hands, groaning.

Of course he would screw it all up before Sasuke left on a mission. Of course.

And now he had to go and break the news to Sakura.

* * *

"You _what_?" Sakura spluttered and slammed her hand down on the table, rattling it and nearly spilling his tea. "Come on, Naruto! You're the one who knows him best! And so you should've knownwithout saying that his family is, and will be—until he decides to forget them—off limits."

There was the problem. Did he really know Sasuke best?

"…I'm sorry."

"Don't say that." Sakura sighed, kneading her forehead. "I guess we should've expected this anyway. He's wormed his way out for the last two years, so why would this year be any different? I just wish he would let us, Team Seven, have a private celebration with him at least, if not an actual party." She picked up a stick of dango from the platter at the center of the table, looking at it thoughtfully. "Maybe I should still get him a present."

"Would he accept that?" Naruto asked dubiously, picking up his tea and swirling it around slightly. He had no appetite, not after what happened earlier today.

"I'd make him." The look in her eyes was determined. "But at the same time…maybe we shouldn't push him, you know? He's made so much progress since he came back; he's almost like the Sasuke we knew before."

"Only, he's still broken."

Naruto's words hung in between them heavily, a whisper of truth that neither wanted to admit. Things would never be the same again… but damn if Naruto wouldn't try and get it close.

"I'll get him a present too," he announced, pushing himself up by planting both of his hands on the table. The chair screeched behind him. "Don't worry, I'll think of something to make it up between us when he gets back. No hard feelings, right?"

"…Yeah. No hard feelings." When Sakura saw Naruto getting ready to pull out his frog wallet, she waved her hand. "I'll pay. Really. Just go and worry about Sasuke's present, you idiot." After some persuading, Naruto finally relented and got ready to leave the dango shop. Just as he was about to step through the door, he heard Sakura call his name once.

"Thank you, Naruto. For everything."

(_for bringing Sasuke back to us_)

* * *

Almost three years had passed since Sasuke had come home.

Naruto wouldn't exactly say that _he _was the real reason Sasuke had come back. No, the bastard just—had. One day, out of the blue, he'd walked up to Konoha and asked to come home.

Home, he'd said.

And so half a year later, he was released from his temporary imprisonment and walking free among them. Once again part of Team Seven…but not, at the same time.

During those three years, nothing had changed—and everything had. Team Seven definitely wasn't the same as before, and Naruto had no power to alter that. There were times when Sasuke almost-smiled and times when he made stilted jokes and times when he ate with them at Ichiraku's; but there were also times when he just _looked _at Naruto instead of saying anything and times when he ignored them and times when he broke and there was nothing Naruto could do to save him, because those were the times when Naruto feared that they'd already grown too far apart for him to fix anything.

(_and then there were those feelings that he got sometimes when he was around Sasuke; warm bubbling feelings, searing feelings, heat burning low in his stomach_)

Was it so hard for them to be normal? Painless? Naruto clenched his fists, and the sharp pang brought him back to his surroundings. It was almost twilight, the setting sun just peeking out over the Hokage mountain. He'd somehow wandered far from the central market of Konoha, and he was now…

Next to the abandoned Uchiha compound.

Sasuke didn't live here, Naruto knew that much. He'd never asked why—probably a good decision, considering how Sasuke had reacted that afternoon—but he could guess. Naruto wouldn't want to live in a place where his whole clan had been massacred either.

Propelled by something unknown, he leaped over the wall separating Konoha from their wretched, torn past. Once on the other side, he straightened and breathed in deeply. It didn't seem all that different in the Uchiha compound; maybe the houses were in worse shape than most, and maybe it was eerily silent, but to someone who had spent their childhood alone and despised, it really wasn't all that terrifying. To Sasuke, though… To Sasuke, the whole compound must have contained ghosts and only that.

Naruto began wandering lightly between the buildings, watching the dust blow over the streets. Sometimes a doll lying, discarded, on the ground would catch his eye, or the flapping of a blown away sign tumbling across the road. Everything was in such wretched condition, like nobody had stepped foot in this place for a decade.

Only that wasn't true.

Naruto found Sasuke's home after half an hour. Instantly, he'd known it was Sasuke's childhood home, not because of the structure or anything like that, but because it looked so much _cleaner_, so much more taken care of. It was evident without even going inside that Sasuke still visited, and often too. While the rest of the Uchiha compound lay in dust—

_That was it._

That was what he could do for Sasuke's birthday present! Clean and organize the compound, so that maybe when Sasuke came back, he would finally acknowledge Team Seven (_him_) and maybe…

Maybe, he could leave his family to rest at last.

* * *

He started the very next day, bright and early, hauling buckets and rags and hammers and nails down to the Uchiha compound. He wasn't quite sure where to start, even, or how far he would take this makeshift renovation project. All Naruto knew was that he had to _try. _

(Try and make Sasuke human again.)

He hit the first building and after about two hours of scrubbing and scrubbing and _scrubbing_, he realized that there was no way he was going to finish this on his own. A quick kage-bunshin no jutsu solved that, and it was with satisfaction that he moved onto the next house while his clones finished up the first.

Most of the houses were splattered with blood, though there were no bodies. Dust covered every available inch, thick and sooty, while toys were abandoned and beds left unmade. It was sad to think that Itachi had killed a whole clan—of mothers and fathers and children and babies, of Konoha's _future_—just for the sake of the rest of the village. It made Naruto all the more determined to become Hokage and do something about it.

By lunchtime, he decided to take a break, wiping his forehead and squinting up at the sun. He hadn't even made it through a quarter of the compound, and he had about five days left till Sasuke's birthday (being Naruto, he was determined to finish it by then even if Sasuke wasn't in Konoha to celebrate).

After a quick cup of ramen—that turned into two and three and four—he set back to work, scrubbing away the hurt and lost memories that had accumulated over the decade.

He could fix it.

He would.

* * *

"He's been doing this for a day now, Kakashi-sensei."

"Why?"

"…I don't know. Maybe because he feels like he owes Sasuke something. They've always had something…different."

"Hm."

"I think Naruto is doing it as a twisted sort of birthday present, but I can't say for sure. Do you think we should stop him?"

"No, just let him be, Sakura. He isn't doing anyone harm anyway. Besides, I'm curious to see just what the outcome of this would be…"

* * *

By the third day of his compound cleaning, Naruto had gone through over half of the district, including shops and houses alike. They still weren't exactly—_livable_, per se, but the blood stains were lighter and the dust was cleared and maybe eventually they would stop being ghosts in Sasuke's heart.

His body was in constant complaint, but it was nothing he hadn't experienced before. He had and always would do anything for Sasuke, and something like cleaning his old home was nothing compared to the heartache of chasing after him for who-knew-how-many long years.

Because Sasuke was his precious person.

* * *

The fourth day—two days before Sasuke's birthday and three before his predicted return date—brought some problems.

The day itself had been nothing out of the ordinary. He'd cleaned some more shops and fixed the rotting wood prevalent everywhere, all the while carefully avoiding Sasuke's childhood home. There was just something in him that wanted to avoid the house as much as possible, or leave it for last; as if cleaning it would finally chase out any of the old Sasuke that still remained.

No, it wasn't the day that was strange.

It was the night.

Naruto, unfortunately, was no stranger to dreams. He'd dreamt of blood before; blood and hurt and anger and pain. He'd dreamt of vengeance and thorny revenge on Konoha, on Sasuke, on everyone. He'd dreamt of guilt drowning him in Sasuke's red eyes, for not saving him fast enough and for not being able to keep his promise to Sakura. He'd even dreamt of the Team Seven that could've existed had everything not gone awry; a perfect little world of smiles and happiness that didn't exist.

And then, he'd dreamt of _lust._

Of course, he didn't label it as that in the dream. How could he, when his mind was fogged with heat and touches and whispers across his skin, searing with an icy burn? Lips soft to touch but brutal in intensity, hands cool and leaving streaks across his skin, trailing down down _down. _

Those dreams often left him awake and unsatisfied, or rarely, with a mess in his boxers. Never before, however, had the other participant—usually a faceless, genderless person—actually manifested as someone he knew… and of all people, _Sasuke._

Somehow, with Sasuke being the one to touch him, hold him, kiss him, soot-black eyes smoldering with a warmth unseen in reality… it made all the difference.

Naruto awoke panting and gasping, hands buried in his sheets and sweat streaking down his neck. His boxers felt heavy and sticky, and it was with a grimace that he rolled out of bed and into the shower. Dawn was barely peeking over the horizon, and he didn't feel like going back to sleep anymore. Not after that dream.

It didn't mean anything. Of course not. Just like those incessant tingles from over the past few months didn't mean anything; just like that weird tremor down his spine whenever Sasuke _looked _at him didn't mean anything. Never mind the fact that somehow, somewhere, he'd stopped loving Sakura in that way. She would always hold a special place in his heart, but the one who he admired and wanted and loved—

No. There was no way it was Sasuke. They were both too broken from buried hurts and even now, just barely beginning to recover. He couldn't mess up their relationship with what would no doubt be one-sided feelings.

It was with that thought that Naruto realized that maybe, this problem really did run deeper than he'd assumed. _Feelings? _For _Sasuke_?

Definitely not.

(_so why did a small part of him desperately want to say yes?_)

* * *

By the fifth day, he'd almost completely finished cleaning the compound, a remarkable achievement he greatly prided himself on. The dream was buried safely in a corner of Naruto's mind, stubbornly refusing to be touched. He was almost done with Sasuke's present, at last, but there was one thing he was still missing:

Sasuke's home.

Naruto had avoided it all week, but there was no putting it off any longer. Staring up at the house—looking utterly normal in the afternoon light—he swallowed. This was it.

Dispelling all his clones, he left his supplies and hesitantly went to the front door. It swung open silently with a feather-light touch, obviously well-oiled to keep the hinges from squeaking. Naruto took a few steps into the entrance, carefully toeing off his shoes even though he hadn't performed the honor for any of the other homes. This was different though: this was _Sasuke's _home.

Dust stirred up in a graceful pattern beneath his footsteps. Sasuke evidently hadn't been here in a while, even if it was more recent than the rest of the compound. Maybe he really had been trying to forget his family.

The house was beautiful. The furniture remained untouched except by age, and even from a distance Naruto could make out the thick layers of dust covering it like a blanket. Evidently Sasuke hadn't bothered to clean up the furniture—only keep the house presentable. The tap in the kitchen didn't work, and neither did the water in the bathrooms. So he hadn't planned on living here, not at all, and that thought made Naruto a little bit relieved. Cleaning your old home where your parents were found dead was one thing; living in it was another.

The house was also eerily silent. Every winding corridor, every tightly shut door, every footstep made Naruto feel like he was invading something private, something sacred. He was virtually _inside _Sasuke's past, the source of all his revenge and happiness and loneliness. He couldn't help wondering if Sasuke, as a child, had begged his mother for a cookie in the kitchen or for his brother to play with him on the boardwalk that ran alongside the outside of the house. Had he craved the attention of his father? Had he strived to become something more? What _would _he have become, had his life not been shattered?

That was probably the one question that plagued Naruto the most.

(_what we could have been_)

After a while, he ventured upstairs. The first door he opened revealed Itachi's room. He stared into it for a few long seconds before quietly closing the door again.

The inside had been sparse, almost empty, except for a lone bed frame stripped to its skeleton and a desk propped crookedly against the wall. That, and the insane slashes all across the floor and wallpaper, crying of anger and pain and being forgotten, vengeance at the one person he'd thought never could go wrong. It was a scream of all the things Sasuke could have never said, and to look into that and interfere was so much more intimate than stepping into his childhood home could ever be.

The next door down brought him to Sasuke's parents' bedroom. Once again, he looked into it for a few moments before turning away. This time, the room appeared to be the same as much of the furniture downstairs, but so much more dusty, as if Sasuke hadn't even tried to step foot into their room. He probably couldn't; too many painful memories bit in the view of the bed and dresser and jewelry spilling softly over the edge. Even Naruto could sense that.

The last room at the end of the hall, then, was Sasuke's.

That thought left a dry feeling in the back of Naruto's throat, and he had to pause for a minute to compose himself before he could finally work up the nerve to enter the room.

At first glance, all he could feel was bittersweet aching and a strange sense of being lost. Surely this couldn't have been Sasuke's room. Not the one he knew, anyway—cold, withdrawn, and emotionless. It didn't match what he saw in the room before him, because what he saw was _color._

Paper drawings coated every inch available on the walls, some even scattered on the floor. Stepping closer in a shocked sort of awe, Naruto lifted a hand to touch one of the drawings. It was a collection of stick-figures, inked in sloppy pencil, nothing too special—but somehow, it was more than Naruto could comprehend.

There were pictures of Itachi, of their family, of Sasuke. Orange fireballs, red eyes (_even then, thinking about the Sharingan_), and once, a bizarre mess of purples and blacks. The one that struck Naruto the most, though, was the single sheet placed on Sasuke's bed, clean and crisp and far newer than the rest.

On it, scrawled in ink with a suspiciously familiar style, was a picture of Itachi and Sasuke. Holding hands. And on the back, written in Sai's handwriting, were the words:

"_Duck-ass, please stop moaning over your brother. Naruto needs you."_

Naruto was torn between wanting to laugh, cry, or strangle Sai. Only he could've pulled off something so blunt, directed toward Sasuke no less.

But what did it mean, then, for Sasuke to have placed the drawing here in his old home, his old bedroom, instead of his apartment or even burning it to ash? Was he actually... letting go? Did Naruto have a chance now?

(_and what does that mean?_)

He set the paper down, a sudden sense of intrusion overwhelming him. Maybe he shouldn't be here at all. Maybe he should've waited for Sasuke to come to him of his own will instead of pushing so hard. What if Sasuke never came back from this mission, as unlikely as that possibility was? Would their last words have been a stupid argument Naruto had unwittingly started, all for some attention?

Because that was all it was. He only ever wanted Sasuke to really _see _him.

Turning with the full intent of leaving and waiting for two more days for Sasuke to return, he stepped into the center of the room, where the floor was slightly curved, dipping downwards—and that was his fatal mistake.

Before he knew it, there was a loud crack and the floorboards underneath him gave way, splintering and crumbling. Naruto flailed as gravity pulled him down, but failed to catch on to anything, and it was with a horrible sense of falling that he cracked his head painfully against the wood of the first floor.

Then, everything went black.

* * *

Sasuke stepped through the village gates.

The mission had gone far better than planned, which was why he was back two days before he was due to return—one day before his birthday, in fact. No doubt the idiot would be ridiculously happy to see him; maybe even plan an impromptu birthday party that Sasuke didn't have the words to say yes to.

It wasn't that he didn't _want _them to celebrate his birthday. Not at all. It made some part of him—some part of his long-thought cold heart—warm just a little, but despite that warmth, his stubbornness still prevailed and he just couldn't say _yes. _As stupid as it was, his own will was what was preventing him.

He quickly gave his report to the Hokage's glazed over amber eyes (drinking again, probably, without the supervision of Shizune). Leaving through the window, he leaped over the rooftops, feet unconsciously carrying him to Naruto's apartment. Somehow over the past months, he'd been finding himself here more and more often. Whenever he stepped out of his own apartment with the intention of buying groceries or even taking a walk, he often found himself on a route that looped by Naruto's apartment. It was almost as if he was acting like one of his own lovesick fangirls (they'd multiplied in number since his return), only there was no way he was in love with that idiot.

Sure, maybe he could acknowledge—to himself, of course—that they had something special. Something different, something he hadn't even had with Itachi. Maybe he'd even resolved to make more of an effort in their relationship, now that he was genuinely back in Konoha and had finally stopped hurting after all those years. But it was just so hard, telling his brain to act the way his heart wanted to.

He hadn't meant to snap at Naruto, not even when he mentioned his family. The Uchiha was a name past and forgotten, _supposed _to be forgotten, for curses only followed their footsteps. Unfortunately, it was just too difficult to not argue back when Naruto had that fiery spark in his blue eyes, the one that sent tingles rushing over Sasuke's skin and made the hair at the nape of his neck stand up.

Sighing, Sasuke pulled himself back to the present, resolving to at least try and fix things between them. The only problem was a knock on Naruto's door presented no Naruto, and with a frown, he realized he couldn't sense his chakra anywhere in the near vicinity. Not even at Ichiraku's, which was strange, especially since it was around dinnertime.

Frowning, he flew over to Sakura's house, landing neatly on the balcony outside her window. He couldn't see her in the bedroom, but he could sense her chakra inside the house, so he waited till she entered the bedroom before tapping on her window. She jumped and whirled, shuriken tucked lightly between her knuckles (_she's grown up too_), before letting out a visible sigh of relief when she saw Sasuke.

"Why do you have to do that?" she complained as she pushed open her window. "Here, come in."

"No, I'm not staying. Do you know where Naruto is?" He remained crouched on the railing of the balcony, balancing with chakra.

"He's been in the Uchiha compound lately… Cleaning it. Oh crap, I don't think I should have said that." Sakura slapped her hand over her mouth, eyes wide, as if she'd just realized who she was talking to. "Um, er, what are you doing back so early, Sasuke? It's your birthday tomorrow! We could plan a party—"

Somehow, the idea of a party seemed less appealing when Sakura mentioned it rather than when Naruto had. "My mission finished early. What was Naruto doing in the compound?" _Cleaning?_

"He's going to kill me for this." Sakura sighed, running a hand through her hair before looking into Sasuke's eyes. "He got the idea that since you probably weren't going to be in town for your birthday, he might as well do something for you that you couldn't take back, such as cleaning the Uchiha compound, apparently. He's been there since the second day you were gone, cleaning and cleaning. I haven't checked up on him recently, but—that's kind of weird, actually. He should be at Ichiraku's by now. Have you checked there? Wait, Sasuke?!"

By the time '_he should be at Ichiraku's by now' _left Sakura's mouth, Sasuke had already fled, becoming a black blur that raced nimbly over the rooftops. There was a dark feeling stewing in the pit of his stomach. The Uchiha compound wasn't safe—there was a reason he hadn't cleaned it yet (besides leaving the memories buried). Even if Naruto had hundreds of clones to call upon, he was still careless and reckless, because that was what made up Naruto. But being inattentive in the compound would only bring injuries.

(_and yet, the thought that Naruto would go so far as to clean the entire Uchiha district—for him—that thought was unexpectedly…nice_)

He let his senses flare the second he hit the district, spanning the compound for Naruto's chakra. Within a second, he'd spotted it, blazing more faintly than usual but still vibrant nonetheless. It helped that he'd always been attuned to Naruto's chakra, more so than most of the other shinobi; whether it was the beast inside of him calling to Sasuke or just another sort of bond, he could only guess.

As he approached the chakra signal, he noticed the familiar pattern of houses around him drawing dangerously close to the area where he'd lived as a child. There was no way Naruto managed to get himself hurt inside his old house. Not even Naruto could be that stupid.

Apparently, he was wrong.

He landed softly in the dirt outside of his house, feeling the chakra signal burn brighter than ever. Taking a moment to survey his surroundings, he realized that it really was cleaner than before. The shops looked less like they belonged in a ghost town and more like closed-for-the-night; the houses were in better shape, almost livable, if one wanted to live among the Uchihas' worst nightmares.

His own house looked unchanged since the last time he'd visited, though—over a month ago. That was when he'd received the drawing from Sai, and that was when he'd decided to change.

Sighing and figuring he'd better go retrieve the idiot before he hurt himself completely, he pushed open the front door. Instantly a wave of nostalgia drowned him as his eyes focused unconsciously on the pair of ninja sandals thrown haphazardly in the entryway, bringing him back to his childhood and the sudden, irresistible thoughts of _'what would it be like to live with him every day?'_

Sasuke didn't know why that thought was so tempting.

Refusing to dwell on it, he stepped into his home with his sandals still on, determined to get to Naruto as fast as possible. Following the chakra source, he went past the kitchen, past the living room, all the way to the study tucked far in the back of the house. What was Naruto doing all the way back here?

"You idiot—" he said, pushing open the door…only to see Naruto lying crumpled on the ground, eyes closed and a faint pool of blood under his head. Broken wood lay in chunks around him, and a gaping hole in the ceiling showed Sasuke his old bedroom. Had Naruto been in there and fallen?

Gritting his teeth and pushing down the odd sense of panic that had filled him at the first sight of Naruto's still body, he hurried to his side, noting the shallow breathing. He carefully lifted Naruto's head, finding the wound on his other temple. It was already healed, thankfully; that meant the moron had knocked himself out for a while.

Irritated (_because that was easier to confront than the worry_), he scooped up Naruto under the knees and behind the back, ignoring the fact that he was in reality carrying him bridal style. Nobody would see him if he was fast enough—and Sasuke was known for speed.

He left his childhood and past behind without a second glance. He was done with that.

There were times when it was better, safer, healthier…to move on to the future.

* * *

Sasuke set Naruto down on the only bed in his apartment. After a second thought, he pulled the dark blanket over him in an effort to keep him warm; not that he doubted Naruto's famed healing abilities, but it was better to be safe nonetheless.

All that was left was to wait for him to wake, then. He didn't know what he would say or what he would do, but they couldn't keep avoiding the tricky business of the pain shared between them. It was time to let go.

Sasuke shook his head and pushed off of the bed, glancing outside at the night that had settled thickly over Konoha. The beginnings of a full moon sent moonbeams streaking delicately into his darkened bedroom, where he hadn't bothered to turn on the light. His stomach growled loudly in protest; he hadn't eaten since earlier that morning before starting the final trek toward Konoha. Approaching the door with the full intent of preparing some food, he was stopped dead in his tracks when Naruto's voice pierced the air.

"It's so…dark…"

Sasuke whirled on his heel, incredulous. Was that really Naruto? It had the same tone and the same raspy infliction…but it sounded so _timid. _Almost—afraid, if he hadn't known Naruto for so long that by now he knew for sure that _fear _was not a word in Naruto's vocabulary. But then again, from the looks of it, it seemed Naruto was having a nightmare, something Sasuke wasn't unfamiliar with. Sweat was beading on his forehead, and his head was turning from side to side on Sasuke's pillow, body twisting under the blanket. If he didn't know better, he would have said it was the trademark motions of a wet dream (_that thought twisted something inside Sasuke's stomach_) but… the expression of faint agony on Naruto's face was something that even he couldn't miss.

Without knowing why, his feet carried him back to Naruto's side until he stood over him, blocking out the moon with his body.

"Don't leave…" Naruto whimpered again, a hand clawing out of the blanket to reach wildly into the air. "_Sasuke!_"

Sasuke's chest tightened as Naruto's breathing accelerated, horribly loud in the deafening silence. What was he supposed to do? Wake him up? That would only bring the awkwardness of being caught in your most vulnerable state, something he wanted desperately to avoid.

Somehow he found himself on his knees, bringing him level with Naruto. As if sensing him, he curled in toward Sasuke, hand now limp on the bed.

"It's dark," Naruto mumbled again, shaking his head a little. "So…dark…"

Swallowing hard, Sasuke carefully lifted a hand and threaded it into Naruto's hair, holding his breath as if he would wake from his mere presence. Instead, Naruto gave a small sigh, face still shaken but somewhat smoother, pushing back a little into Sasuke's hand. Maybe he could just soothe Naruto without waking him.

The strains of a distant song wafted through his memory, singing of sweeter times and soft hands combing through his own hair as he drifted back to sleep after a nightmare.

'_Oh, field flower that has bloomed… I beg you, please tell me…'_

Feeling compelled, Sasuke's mouth opened of its own accord, and slowly, unsurely, he sang, "_Why is it that people hurt each other? Why do they fight?_" When Naruto stilled, as if listening to his song, he hesitantly stroked through his hair again, taking a breath as the words flowed back to him through time and the loving voice of his mother.

"_Oh, flower that blooms with the asphalt, what can you see from there? Why is it that people… cannot forgive each other?"_

He fell into a sort of trance, drawn into a strange mix of past and present and future, listening only to the strange lilt of his own voice—singing to Naruto, something he would've never guessed.

(and Naruto's hair felt so utterly soft under his fingertips)

"_The summer sun is clouded, and the wind fluttered by… I shall sing the proof that life once existed… For the sake of those without a name." _

The last note died away, wavering, before falling into silence once more. His fingers settled in Naruto's hair, as his eyes traced Naruto's face. By now, he'd come so close that mere centimeters separated them, their breath mingling together. Naruto was still now, breathing regular and soft, nightmares washed away.

Hardly knowing what he was doing, Sasuke leaned forward…and forward… and forward, until his mouth just barely brushed Naruto's. Sweet, light, like the touch of a butterfly's wing, but choking Sasuke with the emotions it brought to the surface.

He propelled himself backwards as if Naruto was on fire, back hitting the wall on the far side of the room. What was he _doing_? Was he trying to ruin things between them for good? What if Naruto somehow remembered this in the morning? He would have no way of undoing it.

And yet…

Sasuke thumped his head back on the wall, bringing his right hand up to cover his eyes as he felt a blush crawl up his neck. And yet, it had felt so good—it had felt so _right._

Like they were meant to belong.

* * *

Naruto woke from the sun, hitting him square in the eyes and causing him to flinch. Yawning, he stretched leisurely, feeling more relaxed than he had all week. The pillow under his cheek felt incredibly soft, and an oddly familiar, addicting scent clung to it…almost like…

_Sasuke?!_

Naruto bolted upright, all traces of sleep vanishing in a flash. The angle of the room was completely wrong—the sun was coming in where normally Naruto wouldn't get sun in the morning at all, and the bedspread was a soft black instead of his usual blue and _where was his potted plant that was in the corner?_

Feeling incredibly disoriented, Naruto swung his legs out of bed and stood. Instantly a heady rush of vertigo hit his brain, and he put a hand to his head, wincing when it brushed something tender. What was the last thing that had happened? Hadn't he been cleaning the Uchiha compound? That's right, he'd been in Sasuke's house… and then, after going into Sasuke's bedroom, the—what was it? The floor? Oh yes, the floor had collapsed! And then he'd passed out.

That didn't explain why he was in an unfamiliar apartment that smelled like Sasuke, though.

Naruto marched to the door and swung it open, fully prepared to demand what the hell was going on – when he saw Sasuke on the couch.

He looked young, so much younger than he normally appeared, without that cold smirk and those impassive eyes. His face was relaxed, one hand falling casually over the side of the couch, hair mussed from sleep.

Ignoring the revelation that apparently this _was _Sasuke's apartment, he approached the sleeping man, fully expecting him to wake up. When he didn't, Naruto frowned. Normally the paranoid bastard would've woken up the second someone set foot in his apartment—so either he'd gotten so used to Naruto's presence (unlikely, in his opinion) or was just tired from his mission.

Speaking of his mission, wasn't he due to return tomorrow? And the day before that was…

_His birthday._

A small smile graced Naruto's lips. Unintentional or not, the thought that Sasuke was actually here, and willingly here, on his birthday—it was nice.

It still didn't explain how he ended up in Sasuke's apartment, though, if he'd been at the Uchiha compound and Sasuke had just returned from his mission. Unless he'd personally gone looking for Naruto and _found _him there, before bringing him back here…

A spark of a memory tugged at his mind and Naruto furrowed his brows, chasing after it. He'd had a dream, last night; he knew that much. He'd dreamt of darkness overwhelming him, drowning out the light, and all he could do was shout and reach out for a hand that wouldn't come. It whispered of past years, chasing Sasuke and knowing he would never return. Not too abnormal, for Naruto, but the strange part was the voice that had come drifting in about halfway through, soft and almost mournful. He'd clung to that voice, been soothed by it, and was lulled back to the lapping waves of dreamland by the hand that had stroked his hair.

And the only one who could've done that was Sasuke.

Naruto bent over, hand reaching out but not touching Sasuke's face. "Were you trying to reconcile?" he murmured. "Was that your peace offering?"

His breath caught in his chest as another memory clicked into place, when he'd been barely conscious but not quite asleep yet. It was the memory of a gentle kiss, barely touching their lips together, but searing in the electricity that danced between them.

(w_hat are you trying to do?_

_because the more I think about this… the more I start to realize that maybe—maybe I like you more than I want to admit_)

Quietly, Naruto leaned close to Sasuke till only an inch separated them. He paused for a long moment, almost anticipating Sasuke's awakening and the inevitable clash that would follow after; the familiar burn and harsh shouts that always clung to the both of them, never allowing any of the hurt to crumble to ashes. He almost wanted that to happen, to give him an excuse to forget this night and this week and this day.

But Sasuke didn't wake.

And so Naruto bridged that last inch, and placed his own return kiss on Sasuke's forehead, lingering there for a moment to soak up the scent and the warmth.

Then the moment passed and he took a step back, heart thumping erratically loudly as Sasuke shifted slightly, but still did not wake. His mouth tingled even though he hadn't even kissed Sasuke on the lips—not quite enough bravery for that—and he touched them absently.

If he really did like Sasuke (not love, not yet, not when it was all so new), he shouldn't linger. It would be best for him to leave now before things erupted and blew everything to pieces; Sasuke's willingness to set aside the past at last, this new set of feelings, their bond. It was all too tender to risk it shattering when they could develop it, talk it out, later.

Naruto moved to the window, ready to jump out and flee back to his own apartment. He glanced back at Sasuke once, and a smile spread on his lips.

"I never thought I would get to say this… but happy birthday, Sasuke."

And then he leaped from the windowsill, flying through the air and jumping toward a new future.

Their new beginning.

* * *

**END**

* * *

**A/N: **...And there you have it! Angst ridden without fluff! :'D

I really hope you all liked it (and especially you, Enna! :3) Hopefully you all knew Euterpe (the song) started when Sasuke was singing the 'lullaby'. I love that song, after Enna introduced me. Totally addicting. Other trivia: this fic is named after Euterpe, the song, and it's interesting that Euterpe is also a Greek muse of music and lyric poetry. Kinda cool, huh?

(I'm also sorry I included so many things you didn't want Enna D:)

Anyway feel free to leave a comment on how you thought the story was! I'll love them all.

Till next time -

~Demon's Requiem


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